Description of the attraction
The Russian Church of Bari, also known as the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, is an Orthodox church located in the city of Bari in the Karrassi region.
The church was built at the beginning of the 20th century to meet the needs of Russian pilgrims who made a continuous flow to Bari to venerate the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker, one of the most revered Christian saints. The relics of this saint have been kept in the local Basilica of Saint Nicholas (San Nicola) since the end of the 11th century.
The construction of the temple began in 1913 on behalf of the Imperial Palestinian Society. The architect was appointed Alexei Shchusev, a connoisseur of Old Russian architecture, who created the project of the Russian Church on the model of the ancient Novgorod churches. It is interesting that funds for the construction of the church were collected in Russia. The construction was completed only after the First World War, but since then the flow of pilgrims has not dried up and the church has never been empty. True, it should be said that today the number of Greek pilgrims significantly exceeds the number of Russians.
In 1937, the Bari mayor's office bought out the Russian Church, but the services in it continued. In the 2000s, it was restored, and in 2007, Vladimir Putin visited it with a proposal to transfer the Russian church to the Russian Orthodox Church. For various reasons, this historic event took place only in 2009. It was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Italian President Giorgio Napoletano. Since then, the Russian Church of Bari has been a part of Russia on Italian soil. Next to the church there is a sculpture of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, made by Zurab Tseretelli.
